The present innovations generally address computer software tools for interacting with and assisting traders of financial instruments to help them research and implement trades, and more particularly, include METHODS, SYSTEMS AND APPARATUSES FOR PROVIDING A HUMAN-MACHINE INTERFACE AND ASSISTANT FOR FINANCIAL TRADING.
In order to develop a reader's understanding of the innovations, disclosures have been compiled into a single description to illustrate and clarify how aspects of these innovations operate independently, interoperate as between individual innovations, and/or cooperate collectively. The application goes on to further describe the interrelations and synergies as between the various innovations; all of which is to further compliance with 35 U.S.C. § 112.
At present, it is estimated that a large portion of the trading of fixed income financial instruments such as bonds is accomplished by one trader speaking with another trader over the telephone or other voice or human-to-human platforms such as instant messaging. Although this human-based system has a long history, the benefits of electronic trading that are enjoyed in other financial industries are appealing, including increased efficiency and anonymity. Yet, there exist many challenges to the implementation of the types of electronic trading available in other financial industries to the trading of fixed income products.
For example, fixed income products are largely bespoke and there are a countless number of different products available, each with their own unique characteristics. Also, there are generally no central marketplaces where all products are listed for sale. Accordingly, unlike the equities market, in which a well-defined product such as a certain class of shares of a company are bought and sold with relatively transparent pricing on a central exchange, trading fixed income products very often requires human to human contact to first identify and describe the products available and then also to actually carry out a transaction. In addition, because there are not comprehensive, transparent clearinghouses of available products, liquidity in the fixed income marketplace can often be a problem, and can lead to undesirable product pricing.
Others have proposed responses to these issues. For example, some have proposed using computers to interpret voice commands related to trading instructions, however these attempts have not proven reliable and adaptable enough to the wide variety of fixed income products that traders expect to be able to trade.